


Behind the Scenes Of: A June Wedding

by memorizingthedigitsofpi



Series: A June Wedding [5]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Behind the Scenes, Gen, how my favourite fic got written, the story behind my story, various other original characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 13:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14750013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memorizingthedigitsofpi/pseuds/memorizingthedigitsofpi
Summary: While I was writingA June Weddingthere were a lot of things that didn't make it onto the page and a lot of things that just sort of happened. If you've ever wondered what my writing process is like or how I make decisions, this might give you a glimpse.This is a chapter-by-chapter look into the things you didn't know that went into A June Wedding. I started writing it for myself, but I thought some of you might be interested, too. :)





	1. It started off with a pic, how did it end up like this?

Way back in November of 2015, I posted [a FitzSimmons manip](http://memorizingthedigitsofpi.tumblr.com/post/133314709177/recoveringrabbit-i-saw-your-tags-ive-started). I do this a lot. I didn't think anything of it. It was a picture of the two of them, him in a suit and her in a sheath dress wearing his suit jacket. They were out of doors on a sunny day. Nice, right?

And then [recoveringrabbit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/recoveringrabbit/works) [reblogged it](https://recoveringrabbit.tumblr.com/post/133307826142) and tagged it saying that they looked like they were at a wedding and that someone should write a story (BUT NOT HER OKAY?). 

I posted [Chapter One](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5221412/chapters/12039860) the same day. 

I didn't really know where I was going with the story, I just knew the two of them were going to attend a wedding and hey, why not make it a fake dating situation? I'd never written one before, but I'd just read [Kernels of Truth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3356870/chapters/7342850) by amandajoyce118 and I thought doing a fake dating fic would be fun. 

For whatever reason, I had  _no idea_ that fake dating was a massively popular trope in fandom. I don't even know, people. That's just the facts. 

 _Anyway_ , I set the fic in Sci-Ops era because for me the easiest way to write comedy is to set it in season 1 or earlier. I was intimidated by the idea of writing FitzSimmons' parents (or really any OCs), but I figured that would be a problem for Future!Pi to deal with and starting a fic didn't mean I had to take it in any particular direction. 

Chapter one started with us hearing one side of a phone conversation between Jemma and her mother. Remember that I didn't really know how I was going to write her parents at that point, so an easy way not to deal with it was to just write one half of the conversation. Look at me! Solving problems by just not writing them! Woo!

I  _did_ however have an idea of what Jemma's mum's side of the conversation was. Here it is, more or less. J=Jemma, M=Mum

 

> _M: - We'll need you to arrive at the latest Friday morning, alright? Thursday night would really be better so your father can pick you up at the airport. And mind you let Fitz know that his mum's booked a flight for him, as well. You'll neither one of you beg off this time like you always do and leave your poor parents missing you._
> 
> _J - [throughout the above] Yes, Mum... Yes, Mum... Yes, Mum... Alright! [enter Fitz, interrupting] Fitz! Sorry, Mum but Fitz needs me._
> 
> _M - Fitz? Is he there?_
> 
> _J - Uh huh._
> 
> _M - Make sure you invite him as your date, like I said!_
> 
> _J - Mmm._
> 
> _M - You need to have one, and he's the best candidate you've got._
> 
> _J - Oh, I don't think that-_
> 
> _M - I don't know how many times I've told you that you should really ask that boy on a date sometime before someone cleverer than you comes along and snatches him up, right from under you!_
> 
> _J - [throughout] Mum... But Mum..._
> 
> _M - And honestly, he's a very attractive young man. Why, if I were thirty years younger, I'd-_
> 
> _J - I'm hanging up now, Mother!_
> 
> _M - Spoilsport. Alright, love you. See you at the weekend!_
> 
> _J - I love you, too. Love to Dad!_

That put Jemma into the blushing, awkward mood she was in for her conversation with Fitz. Nothing like your mother trying to set you up with your best friend to really make conversations with him difficult. 

The first time I wrote the chapter, it ended up somewhere around 600 words. This often happens to me. I didn't feel right posting something that short (I tend to aim for 1K or more), so I went back through to see where I could flesh things out a bit. That's where Fitz's fidgeting came from.

Originally, he just walked into the room and sat down at her desk and they talked. In order to get a couple more hundred words in, I created a comedic bit where he played with a desk toy and got stuck in it. I also added in the details around Jemma straightening her desk, even though it was already perfectly neat. 

Once all of that was done, I had enough words to post the chapter. I had no idea what was coming next. 

... I came back about 15 or so chapters later and added in the detail of her fiddling with her ring. But shhh I'll get back to that later :)


	2. The Mamas and the Papa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Link to Chapter Two of A June Wedding](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5221412/chapters/12057407), for your convenience should you like to see it :)

Like I said, I was really nervous about writing FitzSimmons' parents. Lots of people had already done so up to that point (most brilliantly in my opinion, recoveringrabbit in [Murder by Mistake](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3963931/chapters/8890639)). I'd never written parents before and I didn't really know what to do with them. 

I started off with names. I tried to think of a "Scottish" sounding first name for Fitz's mum that also made her somewhat approachable. I decided that Geraldine Fitz had a certain ring to it, and that she shortened it to Geri (pronounced, in my head, like Jerry). For Jemma's parents, I decided that I'd be cute and make "Jemma" a mashup of their names. That made her mum's name pretty easy: Emma (short for Emmaline). Then I just had to find a man's name that started with J that would fit. 

Jason felt too young. Jerry was the same as Fitz's mum (in terms of pronunciation). I nixed several more for various reasons before coming upon the name Jeremy. It was alright? But not quite what I was looking for.

Here's where I tell you that in and around 2010-2012 or so, I watched a  _lot_ of [Top Gear](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1628033/). It's a British TV show (now with an American version) ostensibly about cars but really about the three hosts being sarcastic to each other and proving that cars are better forms of transportation than basically everything else, especially public transport. They are sarcastic and over the top, and to this day I will watch any episode of it that I see come on air. 

One of the hosts of Top Gear is Jeremy Clarkson. He is  _not_ the basis for Jemma's father, in  _any_ way. Well, except one. You see, his co-hosts, Richard Hammond and James May, occasionally refer to him as Jezza. 

And that's where Jemma's father got his nickname. :)

Once I had their names, I needed backgrounds for them. At the time, a lot of the fandom was headcanoning (or at least writing) Fitz's mum as a downtrodden woman without a lot of money. Lots of "single mum living in near-poverty, working hard and raising her son alone" type of fics. Since there were a lot of those already, I decided to take her in the opposite direction. I made her young (well, late 40's), attractive, and powerful (a Member of Parliament on the rise). I didn't know much beyond that but it was a start. 

For Jemma's parents, I decided that her mum was a professor in biomedical engineering. It seemed like a nice combination of what Jemma did and what Fitz did. I looked up a few versions of specialties online and found a female professor of about the right age to give me a mental image for her. That was the end of Emma. 

While I was looking up professors to find my Emma, I was also looking up astronomers to give me an idea for Jezza. I'd decided her dad's occupation based on what we'd learned in canon about Jemma's dad teaching her about the stars when she was young. After looking up the Jodrell Bank Observatory (which I was already familiar enough with to know the name, at least), I saw that it wasn't far from Sheffield and suddenly Jezza had a job. He also had a picture of a very jovial and friendly looking astronomer with a nice bushy beard. 

So I had names and jobs for everyone, but that was about it. That's when I started talking to people. I think [0hcicero](http://0hcicero.tumblr.com/) / [atomicsupervillainess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/atomicsupervillainess/pseuds/atomicsupervillainess/works) had the biggest influence on how the characters developed. 

We were chatting as we often did, while I wrote my chapter update. She'd seen the first chapter and was excited about the premise, so I copy/pasted what I had so far into my chat window. It wasn't much. 

> _Emmaline Simmons brewed the tea as Geraldine Fitz arranged some shortbread biscuits on a plate._
> 
> _"Must be nice," Geri sighed with a fond smile and a raised brow._
> 
> _"What's that?" Emma asked, distractedly rooting through a cupboard for more sugar cubes. "I know I bought more of the ruddy things, now where are they?"_
> 
> _Geri picked up a biscuit and broke off a bite. "Having a child who answers the bloody phone." She loved Fitz dearly, as only a mother can, but his tendency to let his phone go to voicemail drove her batty._
> 
> _"Ha!" Emma scoffed. "That's the third time I called her, though." She slid a box of soda biscuits to the side and found her prize. "Aha! There we are!" She turned around and raised the sugar triumphantly. "I knew I had some."_

It wasn't much, but she extrapolated a TON of character traits that I hadn't even realized I was writing. She decided immediately that she loved that Jemma was super organized but that her mother was super distracted. She also identified Geri as a total badass. I'd just had Emma rooting around to give some reality to the scene? I hadn't actually thought of it as a defining character trait, but as soon as it was pointed out I decided to run with it. As for Geri, I just wanted to give her a funny line. But by calling her a badass, she suddenly got a no-nonsense attitude, a potential background in the military, and a sharp mind and razor wit that made Prime Ministers shiver in their boots. 

As for Jezza, as soon as she heard the name and saw the photo she decided he was the fluffiest teddy bear imaginable and sort of a hippie and definitely doted on his daughter. If you love Jezza, you owe 0hcicero a debt of gratitude. She inspired a very large part of what he became. 

I wanted to set up the parents as already being friends because their children were besties, so that's why I wrote the chapter from their perspective. I was also trying to start a little world building in terms of taking FitzSimmons and moving them across the ocean, thus the tea and biscuits. Nothing works quite as well as shorthand for "British" like some good old tea and biscuits, after all. 

I had the mums in there, but I hadn't brought Jezza in yet and I wanted to introduce him as well. He couldn't really shoehorn into the existing conversation, so I had him wander into the room at the end. He was sweet and perhaps a bit bumbling, and definitely indulgent of the women in his life. We didn't know much, but we knew he was a sweetheart. 

I was really nervous posting this chapter because 90% of it focused on original characters with Fitz just calling into the scene on his phone. I put all of his characterization in the frame of his mother picturing him as she listened to his voice, and even that was just because I thought people would  _hate_ a chapter without the main characters in it. 

Turns out, I was wrong.


End file.
